Gun sales surge in US after Aurora shootings at Batman cinema screening

Gun sales in the US have drastically increased following James Holmes’ alleged shooting spree during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises at a cinema in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado, official records suggest.

James Holmes made his first court appearance in a preliminary hearing earlier this week (Picture: Getty)

Mr Holmes, 24, is expected to be formally charged with the murder of 12 people and the wounding of 58 others next week over the Friday July 20 massacre.

In the three days that followed the shooting, 2,887 background checks for firearms were carried out in Colorado, a 25 per cent increase on the Friday-Sunday period in 2012 and 43 per cent up from the same interval the previous week.

Dick Rutan, owner of Gunners Den in Arvada, Colorado, said requests for concealed-weapon training certification were ‘off the hook’ after last week’s incident.

He said the increases in sales and training were a result of fears new gun controls would be imposed in the wake of the Aurora shootings.

‘What they’re saying is, they want to have a chance,’ he said.

‘They want to have the ability to protect themselves and their families if they are in a situation like what happened in the movie theatre.’

As well as in Colorado, strong rises in sales, indicated via background checks, were reported in Oregon, Florida and California, despite the FBI saying June and July have been the slowest months for gun sales in the past decade.

Jay Wallace, owner of Adventure Outdoors in Georgia, said sales the day after the massacre were up 300 per cent compared to the same date a year ago.

‘We shouldn’t let one sick individual make us forget and lose sight of freedoms in this country,’ he said, referring to the Second Amendment that some claim guarantees the right to bear arms.

While the cinema killings have reopened the gun ownership debate in the US, presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have so far largely stayed clear for fear of alienating voters with the election just months away.